Red Gold
by adoranymph
Summary: Ginny Weasley may not be joining her beloved Harry on the hunt for Horcruxes, but that doesn't stop her from banding with Neville as they, their fellow Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs shine with the true colors of bravery.


**Chapter One**

**Frustration**

"You know, Ginny, you should really talk to him about this," said Molly Weasley as her daughter, Ginny Weasley, helped her fold laundry in the kitchen of their home, better known as the Burrow.

"Mum…" Ginny groaned. "You're _not _making this easy."

"Honestly though, he's being daft, wouldn't you agree?"

"He's a _Gryffindor_—"

"So are _you_, but _you're _not the one breaking it off to go out into the horrible chaos of the unknown and—"

"If he'd have _let_ me, _I'd _be going _with _him—"

"Don't even _talk _such nonsense!" Molly scolded, shaking a fistful of robes in Ginny's face. "Don't you _dare _even _think_—!"

Ginny threw down the pair of socks she was rolling up. "So what, I'm supposed to just stay cooped up here at home and then at school while my family and friends are out there—?"

"But at least _you'll _be where it's _safe_!" Molly's eyes were starting to get overbright. Again.

Ginny huffed and picked up the socks she'd thrown down. "Now I think I know how _Sirius _felt."

"Oh _please_." Molly sniffed, and her voice cracked as she tried in vain to sound less care-burdened than she really was.

Ginny knew this to be true, and so, out of love for her mother, decided not to push her further. Really, it was the last thing she deserved. She was only trying to help, after all. She couldn't _help that_. Besides, Ginny had been moping about her boyfriend—_ex_-boyfriend—Harry Potter breaking up with her at the end of this past school term, and her mother hated to see her children miserable—especially when it was _lovelorn _miserable.

"Tonks and Ronald should be back any moment now," Molly muttered under her breath. She glanced out the window over the sink, which gave them a perfect view of the backyard.

She gasped.

A jolt went through Ginny. "What is it?"

"The Portkey! The Portkey!" Mrs. Weasley abandoned the robes she'd been folding and hurried out the kitchen door and down the back steps.

Ginny abandoned the socks and followed her. As she was in her bathrobe and pajamas, she went barefoot, not even bothering to throw on her trainers. Luckily her mother would be too worried about other things to scold her for not wearing any.

Yet as she and her mother ran out to meet Nymphadora Lupin (who still for the most part went by her maiden name, Tonks) and Ginny's brother, Ron Weasley, the blue light faded, and the only thing that appeared and dropped with a sad thump to the ground was an old tin can.

Tonks and Ron had missed their Portkey.

"Oh dear..." Molly began to ring her hands. "They've missed it…they've missed it…."

"Mum, I'm sure they're okay…." Was it only her mother whom Ginny was trying to reassure?

Molly began to pace back and forth.

The cool wind rose with an icy edge to it.

Ginny shivered. "Mum, we'd better go in."

"Oh…but how are they going to get here?" Molly fretted.

"Tonks is an Auror, she'll take care of Ron. Come on, it's getting chilly."

Molly continued to convey her fears and doubts as they went back inside. They tried to return to folding laundry, but now they were both much too anxious.

Another blue light illuminated the backyard outside.

Molly gave a slightly hoarse cry. "That'll be Fred and your father!" She dashed out the door.

Ginny followed her, but this time she stopped on the steps. From where she was, she could already see that only the ancient sneaker appeared. But no Fred Weasley, another one of Ginny's brothers. And no sign of Ginny's father, Arthur Weasley.

She gulped. _Ron…? Fred…? Daddy…? Please be okay…. _

Her mother was simply standing out there, staring down at the old shoe that should have brought Fred and her father safely home to them. Ginny had to call for her several times before she finally got a response out of her. Slowly, Molly shuffled back across the lawn towards Ginny waiting for her at the top of the back steps.

Unconsciously Ginny reminded herself that the next Portkey was supposed to be bringing the Hogwarts groundskeeper, Rubeus Hagrid and—

_Harry…. _

She tried not to let her fears get the better of her. But really, when she saw her mother's pale face as the light of the kitchen illuminated it, she wanted nothing more than to tear at things. Since she couldn't tear up the weighty anxiety inside of her, the next best thing might be something tangible, like parchment or thin, fragile fabrics….

Just as Molly alighted the top step and was beside her with her back towards the lawn, a new great burst of blue light exploded from the darkness before them.

Ginny screamed.

Her mother screamed.

Ginny blinked. Sure enough, she saw Hagrid tumble and THUD to the ground with Harry, comparatively smaller, flopping down upon a patch of ground nearby. She leapt off of the porch steps and ran towards them, her mother at her heels. Harry was staggering to his feet, swaying on the spot. Of course, she was glad to see that Hagrid appeared to have made it back in one piece…but at the moment, she only had eyes for Harry….

Yet she remembered herself in the nick of time, and stopped a small way from him, fighting the compulsion to throw her arms around him and hold him close. Still…her heart was pounding from more than just her intense relief.

Immediately, her mother rained questions down on them, demanding to know where the others were.

Harry was trying to catch his breath as he replied, "What d'you mean? Isn't anyone else back?"

Ginny's blood ran cold. Her pounding heart sprang into a sprint, as she listened to Harry tell of the Death Eater ambush he and the others had encountered. There was a note in his tone that she could detect—it was one of self-justification. He blamed himself for this catastrophe, for letting all of these people he cared about risk their lives for him. Ginny wanted to say something to ease the ache in his eyes, but then her mother pulled him into a rough hug in mid-sentence.

Then Hagrid asked if there was any brandy, and Molly relinquished her hold on Harry and told Hagrid that she'd be back in moment with some. Yet Ginny could clearly hear the tears in her voice as she hastened to wipe them away while she headed back towards the house, pulling her housecoat closer around her.

Then she looked at Harry, and found that he'd been looking at her. She did not blush, or look away though. She'd grown beyond that—they _both _had grown beyond that. In his face, slightly obscured by night's shadows, she could make out the question that was there, unspoken, and she answered it without hesitation. She showed him the two Portkeys that Ron and Tonks, and Fred and her father, were supposed to have arrived by—but both had been missed, as they had arrived without them. She was just telling him that yet another one of her brothers, Fred's twin George Weasley, was supposed to be arriving in another minute with their former defense against the dark arts teacher and Tonks' husband, the werewolf Remus Lupin, when her mother returned with the brandy for Hagrid. As he opened the bottle and began to gulp it down, Ginny saw yet another blue light appear out of nothing, stabbing right through the shadows.

She exclaimed to her mother and pointed.

The light increased in size, until finally Remus and George appeared spinning, and falling to the ground, yet in a way that alarmed Ginny at once. Remus seemed to have George collapsing into him, and then she realized that Remus was half-carrying George, while George's face was covered in what was unmistakably blood.

Molly gave a cry, and she led the way into the house as Harry ran forward, seized George's legs, and helped Remus carry him into the house. Ginny followed close behind them. They took her brother through the kitchen into the sitting room, where they laid him out on the sofa.

The light of the lamp revealed the wounded side of George's head.

Ginny gasped and covered her mouth with her hands.

George had an ear missing.

All that was there was a heavy amount of thick, dark, shining blood….

"Ginny, get me the bottle of essence of dittany from the sideboard dear," her mother told her, bending over George. Her voice was quavery.

Ginny was about to go do it when she saw Remus grab Harry by the upper arm and half-drag him into the kitchen as though he were unbelievably and inexplicably furious with him.

"Ginny! The dittany!"

"Oh…right…sorry, Mum. I've got it." She went over to the sideboard and retrieved the bottle from beside the one of firewhiskey.

She'd thought the sideboard an odd place to keep medicinal things but she supposed now it was quite convenient to have it all right there. As she took out the bottle, she noticed her hands were shaking. She returned to her brother's side and handed her mother the flask-sized bottle. She stood by as her mother applied dittany to the wound, and she looked up at the sound of Remus' sudden sharp voice in the kitchen as he conversed heatedly with Harry about something.

George's wound was now smoking green as the dittany did its work.

Ginny heeded the slight buckling sensation in her knees and sank into a nearby armchair. She hid her face in her hands. She heard her mother murmuring healing spells, and she concentrated on the soothing sound of her voice—the voice that accompanied the feeling of her mother's warm hand rubbing her back when she'd woken crying from nightmares as a small child. She concentrated on the sound of her own breathing, which she steadied to a slower pace.

Then she heard the sound of something wooden breaking in the kitchen. She looked up from her hands.

"What was _that_?" Molly asked, also looking to the kitchen.

Then a slight smile curved Ginny's mouth. "I reckon Hagrid's just sat down in a chair."

"Oh dear," Molly sighed. She returned to muttering incantations over George's healing ear with her wand.

Ginny leaned her elbows on her knees and rubbed her temples. _Daddy…Fred…Ron…Bill…Tonks…where _are _you? Argh! You _too _Phlegm—I mean Fleur…I want you back here too…I want _all _of you back here…safe…please…. _

There came the sound of the back door being banged open, and stumbling footsteps in the kitchen that quickly died away.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Hagrid's voice called indignantly. There was a loud shuffling on the linoleum.

Muffled, faint, indistinct voices—two of them, Ginny was sure were new—floated in from outside and through the wall dividing the kitchen and the sitting room.

Had someone else come back?

Ginny glanced over at her mother.

Molly muttered "_Tergeo_," and siphoned up the remaining blood around George's ear with her wand. "Ginny, would you mind putting the dittany back for me, please?" she asked softly without looking up.

"Sure," said Ginny, hardly speaking the word at all. She rose and took the bottle from her mother. She had a terrible roiling in her stomach that she feared might make her sick very soon. She replaced the bottle on the shelf in the sideboard. She heard Hagrid call to Harry, but she couldn't hear what else he said.

She went back to her mother and brother, and peered over her mother's shoulder, to see that the blood was cleaned up, the bleeding staunched, and now all that was left was a gaping hole in the side of her brother's head. Ginny shuddered, but she did not look away.

Then she heard the door to the kitchen open and raised her eyes to see Harry enter the sitting room. The sight of him brought a lump to her throat, and she swallowed hard to try and get rid of it.

Harry came to stand with her and Molly and softly asked them how George was doing. Molly looked around and explained that while she couldn't replace his ear, because it had been cursed off, at least he was alive.

_At least the rest of him's here._

Harry quite agreed with Molly's sentiment. Then Ginny dared to ask him if she'd really heard someone else arrive in the yard.

She had. It was Hermione Granger and Kingsley Shacklebolt.

Ginny whispered her relief and closed her eyes. When she opened them she caught Harry looking at her again. His own vivid green ones gazed upon her with such a painful yearning, it made the lump rise back up into her throat. Suddenly she had a million things she wanted to tell him, but she didn't know where to begin, how to form the words with her mouth. She tried to speak with the way she met his gaze, gave him look for look. An invisible fist squeezed her heart, seeing his desire to take her in his arms and hold her, which all too perfectly complied with her desire to let herself fall into those arms, and bury her face in his chest, nuzzle him the way their housecat Moxie sometimes did when it was being affectionate.

They both awoke to the world around them as Arthur and Fred came striding into the room, Arthur shouting something over his shoulder at Kingsley. Molly could not prevent herself from sobbing his name as he caught her to him in his arms, hugged her very tightly, and then released her to drop to his knees beside George. George's twin, Fred, was completely lost for words, his mouth agape.

And then George stirred, and Molly asked him how he was feeling, calling him "Georgie", which was what she used to call him when he was little and she was giving him TLC, like the time he was sick with dragon pox at the age of five, which Ginny didn't remember because she'd only been about three at the time.

Then of course, George had to go and make a pun as an answer to their mother's question. Ginny rolled her eyes and gave a faint moan as he claimed that he felt "saintlike" because the hole in his head from his missing ear made him "holey". She wanted to say, "Now look what you've done," when their mother sobbed harder at this, while Fred naturally just went with the flow, even reprimanded him, because apparently out of all of the ear-related jokes in the world, the one he'd chosen for his first was the worst—or at least the most pathetic. He did have a point though when he pointed out that now their mother could tell him and his twin apart—which meant no more of their old "switching identities" gags.

His gleefulness deflated however when he found out that Ron, as well as Bill Weasley (another one of Ginny's older brothers) hadn't gotten back yet.

Ginny saw Harry glance at her. He made a subtle beckoning motion with his fingers and jerked his head almost unnoticeably towards the kitchen door. The corner of her lips barely quirked at one corner, and nodded discreetly. He gave a quavery half-smile too, and the two of them walked together side by side through that door.

As they proceeded through the kitchen towards the back way out, Ginny softly said how Ron and Tonks were supposed to have gotten back by now, how the Weasleys' Auntie Muriel's wasn't that far from the Burrow. When Harry did not reply, she could sense the fear in him as if she knew him well enough that she had an almost emotionally telepathic connection with him. Without a thought except to offer him some solace, she took his hand in hers and gave it a light squeeze. He looked at her quickly, and his eyes filled with that terrible and intense ache that turned Ginny's heart over.

Up ahead Ginny recognized Hermione from behind by the bushy hair, standing shoulder to shoulder with Remus and Hagrid, and then there was Kingsley, off to the side, pacing back and forth over the grass. She let go of Harry, but remained by his side as she and he joined Hermione, Remus, and Hagrid in their silent vigil, though none of them looked around at them when they did. But Ginny knew it was because Hermione was worrying about Ron, and Remus was worrying about Tonks, and Hagrid was worrying about _everyone_.

And for a little while, they heard nothing more than the hopeful yet ultimately disappointing, deceiving whispers of leaves blown by the breeze, the rustling of those still up in the branches of the bushes and trees—

Hermione gave a shout, and Ginny looked up to see a broom streaking toward the ground, carrying Tonks and Ron. Tonks landed it in a long skid that scraped hard through the earth, churning out pebbles and dirt along either side of them. While Tonks half-tripped over the handle in dismounting and Remus managed to catch and steady her in his arms, Ron stumbled over to them in an almost drunken sort of way, and if this were happening under far more lighthearted circumstances, Ginny might have laughed. Now she had her heart pounding with intense relief again as Hermione practically assaulted Ron with the great big hug she gave him. Ron seemed to handle it rather well, and patted her on the back, assuring her that he was just fine.

At this Ginny, had to at least grin a little.

Then Tonks turned to them, no longer clinging to Remus, though Remus kept one arm around her waist. She praised Ron for his efforts fending off the Death Eaters that had chased them, and Ron finally had to free himself from Hermione's embrace when she was surprised at his show of talent. Ginny sensed that it irked her brother to have the girl to whom he was supremely attracted appear to have so little faith in his abilities. He turned away from her and asked Ginny and anyone else who might have the answer whether or not he and Tonks were the last ones to get back. Ginny informed him that that they were still waiting for Bill, Bill's fiancée Fleur Delacour, ex-auror Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, and the cheapskate con-artist Mundungus Fletcher. Glad to see that Ron was back and safe, she turned on her heel and dashed towards the house, calling over her shoulder that she was going to go and tell their parents that he was back safe and sound.

She raced up the back steps, burst through the door, and then slowed her pace down as she crossed the linoleum floor to the one leading into the sitting room. Quietly she pushed it open and poked her head in to find Fred sitting with George, though they weren't bantering about some joke, like normal, but quietly discussing something uncharacteristically serious, while her parents stood side by side each with an arm around the other's waist as they gazed out the window, conversing in 

low voices so that no one else would hear. The weight of the sobriety in the room was thick in Ginny's lungs. Maybe it had to do with the fact that even Fred and George weren't cracking a joke, even just between themselves. It sent Ginny's heart sprinting again, and there was that awful queasiness in her stomach.

Timidly she cleared her throat, and Fred, George, and her parents all stopped talking and looked around her. All of their expressions were somber, and for a moment Ginny couldn't seem to recognize them.

"Erm, Tonks and Ron have just come back," she announced.

Molly gave a sharp gasp and hurried across the room towards her. Arthur followed closely behind her. Ginny stepped aside to let them through, and then followed them outside too. Her parents went racing down the back steps, and Ginny kept up with them at their heels. Ginny watched as they both pulled Ron into fierce hugs before turning to Remus and Tonks and thanking them for looking after George and Ron and getting them home alive. Tonks was modest, and Remus, who was never one to show too much of what he was feeling on the inside, it seemed, asked how George was doing.

Ron, alarmed by this query, tried to ask what was wrong with George, but then Ginny saw what looked like Bill and Fleur sitting on the air as they flew through it, coming in for a landing on the thestral that Ginny couldn't see. Her cry of alarm was not the only one—others like Hermione, who also couldn't see thestrals—cried out at as well as the "invisible" creature came to a full stop upon the ground, and Bill and Fleur slid off.

In the back of Ginny's mind, she felt minor disappointment that no trace of Harry was left in Fleur's features. Well, there hadn't been a trace of Harry left in anyone's features before now—still, she'd hoped to see Fleur not her usual beautiful self for a change. But then maybe it had to do with the fact that she felt Fleur might distract Harry, and if Harry was going to be getting any unnecessary distraction, it ought to be coming from _her_.

These backburner thoughts were interrupted however when Bill said to their father that Mad-Eye was dead.

A silence that was dead too fell upon them, as though someone had cast a veil of it over their heads, covering them with it in something like a shroud. Ginny went numb as she listened to Bill's tale of how Mundungus had panicked and fled, while Voldemort (Bill was one of those brave enough to pronounce the name) hit Mad-Eye full in the face with his curse, and Ginny just couldn't picture it happening in her mind. It was hard to imagine someone tough, a pure survivor, like Mad-Eye Moody, dying. Not only dying, but getting killed. Yet when the truth of it dawned on them all, she began to accept the fact, and accompanied everyone else in trooping solemnly back into the house.

When they entered the sitting room, Ginny was relieved for a brief time to find George and Fred in their usual joking mood, laughing with each other about something. Then their smiles were wiped away again to be replaced with 

expressions of pallid shock when their father told them that Mad-Eye was dead. Even worse, she caught Tonks weeping silently like Fleur, dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief Remus had taken out of his pocket and given to her. He always seemed to have a handkerchief on hand for someone crying. He'd had one on hand nearly two years ago for Molly when she'd apparently been crying over the visions of her dead children that the boggart upstairs in 13 Grimmauld Place had been tormenting her with as she tried in vain to get rid of it.

Harry got uncomfortable around crying, which Ginny didn't mind, because she hardly ever cried anyway. Most of the time she herself found it annoying when someone constantly "cried over spilled pumpkin juice". Still, she wished he let himself learn how to console people. Sometimes it seemed when she tuned into her female intuition to try and guess what he was feeling, she found nothing at all. She was getting the impression that he was becoming slightly desensitized by all this death and destruction in this war that he was living through, and, against his will, yet at the same time with all of his will, playing such a purportedly major role in.

She looked over at Hagrid, who was vastly sentimental, but at least he cried when the situation called for it, and now he was crying into a giant handkerchief of his own (though for a split second she thought it was one of her mother's tablecloths). Then she saw Bill retrieve the firewhiskey sitting next to the bottle of dittany in the sideboard, as well as some clean and empty glasses. He proposed a toast in honor of Mad-Eye's memory, served them all, and following his lead, they raised their glasses in reverence of their fallen comrade. Ginny gulped down the fiery liquid, and she thought she could feel the heat of strength flood down to her toes and rise up through to her hair, which might have now blazed like sheer red fire. She caught sight of Harry, who seemed to be having a similar experience.

Then Remus touched the crux of the matter. In a roundabout way he suggested that Mundungus might have been the one to have betrayed them all tonight, but Bill had a good explanation for that. Mundungus had simply panicked—anyone would at the sight of Voldemort flying at them from behind, wouldn't they…?

Then Tonks and Fleur put in their two cents as well, and seemed to be saying in a veiled way that if it wasn't Mundungus who had betrayed them, then it had to be _somebody _in this room.

Yet Ginny wouldn't believe that. And she was comforted to know that Harry didn't believe it either.

He said to them, in voice strong with conviction, "I mean…if somebody made a mistake…and let something slip, I know that they didn't mean to do it. It's not their fault…. We've got to trust each other. I trust all of you, I don't think anyone in this room would ever sell me to Voldemort."

After a moment's silence, Fred and George broke it with words of encouraging agreement. Naturally George had to thrown in another play on words: instead of saying "hear, hear" he said, "'ear, 'ear", this time though, Ginny didn't roll her eyes, when she saw the old Fred and George she wanted back shining through them both.

Remus however compared Harry to Harry's father, saying both of them seemed to possess the inability to accept the idea of friends betraying friends. Ginny looked away like everyone else, feeling awkward by this personal matter in Harry's life, but she couldn't blame Harry for the defensive stance Harry appeared to take—from what she'd heard about it, Peter Pettigrew had been a different story. He hadn't been like all these people—he hadn't been like Remus, and Tonks, and Ginny's brothers and parents, and Fleur and Hagrid—and the difference that she could see between Pettigrew and the people in this room right now was that Pettigrew had been a coward, and still was to this day, while the people here were some of the bravest people she knew. It was lucky though, she had to admit, that Remus closed the door from argument between him and Harry, as he set down his empty glass and turned to Bill about making arrangements to recover Mad-Eye's body.

After he and Bill said their goodbyes and left, everyone but Harry sank into the nearest available chair or whatever piece of furniture they saw could serve as a decent place to sit and breathe, if even just for a minute. Yet from the opposite side, Ginny could easily sense the restlessness inside Harry, the only one who couldn't seem to allow himself the smallest respite, and therefore remained standing on his feet.

"I've got to go too," said Harry, his voice rather hollow.

Ginny folded her arms and said nothing. She had already been over this with Harry—that was why he had broken up with her. To protect her. Or so he'd said. She told him she didn't care. She still didn't care. But she put up with it, because as much it irked her, deep down she found that it was something she loved about him. Besides, these days, how often do you come across a bloke who's got even the tiniest shred of chivalry in him? Either that or too chivalrous for Ginny's taste, as in the case of her ex before Harry, Dean Thomas, a fellow Gryffindor and in Harry's year at Hogwarts, who'd seemed to think that she couldn't even climb through the portrait hole into Gryffindor tower without the assistance of his hand on her back.

Now as she listened to her mother arguing with Harry on the matter of his remaining here at the Burrow, she could tell that though she was trying to ease his mind, she was doing quite the opposite. Then her father had to step in too and back her mother up, and Harry seemed to be getting cornered.

_Oh, would you just let him go? _Ginny thought irritably. _He's not a bleedin' child for Merlin's sake! _She might have voiced these opinions aloud, but she felt it was not her place to do so.

Worst of all though, not only did the fact that Harry kept rubbing his forehead concern her, because it could only mean that his scar was bothering him, but the others seemed to think he didn't understand what they had all just gone through to get him here safely, which surprised Ginny, because considering Harry's past, one would think they'd realize that he knew a thing or two about making sacrifices to protect other people. So, she was not at all stunned when they managed to push him over the edge enough to make him explode at them.

Naturally her mother tried to lighten the mood by suggesting to Harry that they put his owl Hedwig up in the cage with Ron's owl Pigwidgeon, but this seemed to bother Harry too. Though this time Ginny didn't think it was her mother's fault. Curiously, she regarded the way Harry did not answer Molly and drained the remaining firewhiskey in his glass. But with her keen sense of other people, especially, it seemed, when it came to Harry, Ginny got the impression from his intentional silence meant that something terrible had happened to his beautiful snowy owl…after all…Ginny couldn't remember seeing Hedwig with him when he'd arrived from the Portkey….

Hagrid tried another angle, and this too bothered Harry. He was saying how great it was that Harry had survived facing Voldemort—again. Ginny didn't think this was what Harry wanted to hear, and as much as she liked Hagrid, she felt he was being tactless in saying this as a means of cheering Harry up. In her heart she was certain that he was sick of doing "amazing things" while around him people he cared about were murdered, and then in the aftermath, when everyone had grieved the dead, it always moved right into urging Harry onto some metaphorical pedestal of great heroism, forcing him into the blinding rays of the spotlight—sometimes even before the grieving had hardly even begun. It was enough to test anyone's temper, no matter how short it was, or wasn't.

It was enough to exasperate someone like Harry. Even now he denied having escaped because of his own skills, but just because something funny had happened with his wand. Then he had Hermione jumping on him like a brilliant professor about how what he was describing wasn't possible, and then her father jumped on him like a concerned uncle of Harry's who meant well, but was talking rather than listening to Harry—talking to him as if he weren't about to come of age in a couple of weeks, but instead as though he were still an eleven-year old first year. Ginny understood. Her parents spoke to her that way too, even though she would be turning sixteen come the eleventh of August that year, would be of age in another year after that, and that there were more important things to be done than finishing school—because at this point, it might end up that there won't be a school to finish at.

When her parents treated her like this, she normally retorted through gritted teeth.

Now Harry retorted to Arthur through gritted teeth as well, and rubbed vexedly at his scar again.

Ginny curled up in the squashy armchair in which she sat, folding more into herself. She was feeling very tired, and she really wished they'd just leave Harry alone. She closed her eyes and vaguely heard him say, "I…need to step out a minute…get some fresh air…excuse me…", which was followed by the whisper of his trainers on the carpet, and then the creak of the kitchen door opening as he left the room to go out onto the back steps.

"Poor dear," said Molly.

For some reason, this struck a nerve in Ginny. She sat bolt upright and glared at her mother. "Mum, cut it out, will you?"

Everyone looked wide-eyed at Ginny, but Ginny did not care.

"Ginny…" her father started to admonish.

"Honestly, just cut it out, all of you," Ginny said heatedly. She rose to her feet.

"Ginny, what's gotten into you?" her mother demanded.

"You know what," Ginny growled. She stormed over to another door on her way to go upstairs to bed.

When she passed Tonks, who sat nearest that door, she caught her shining eyes, and a sense of complete empathy passed between them—both of them knew how it was to be in love with a man who rejected them—but only because they loved them so much and only wanted them protected from what horrible things could happen if they stayed together. Tonks had been down that road with Remus, and now Ginny was going through that with Harry. Her demeanor softened, and she nodded to Tonks, who nodded back and attempted a faint smile. Ginny returned the favor, opened the door, and left the sitting room.

Climbing tiredly up the narrow stairs, she felt that old panging wish that she was getting Tonks for a sister-in-law instead of Fleur.


End file.
